A Serious Man (2009)

A Serious Man (2009) Trailer

This is the movie of Coen brothers. Similar to Burn After Reading, the movie doesn't lead to anything.

Is it about the life of a man in the 60's. He almost lost his wife, his promotion and he moved to the Jolly Rogers. Life hit the rock bottom. And then all of a sudden, everything seemed fine. His love enemy died, he got promoted and everything returned normal.

Then the twist comes. His doctor called him for a serious discussion of his body check.

The message is brought by the Rabbis: I don't know. Who cares?

Everyone asked him to consult the Rabbi. They know everything and can answer his questions of life. But it turned out that the conversation with the most junior Rabbi is the most spiritual. While the 2nd Rabbi told the story of the teeth, but with no point of direction. And the most senior Rabbi talked about the pop song with the son. It's very ironic.

To be honest, I don't understand the ending of the movie. What is the meaning of the tornando?

The Ghost Writer (2010)

The Ghost Writer (2010) Trailer

The cinema is full when I watched this movie. I chose this movie over Legion. The whole plot is simple. Ewan, the main character is hired as a ghost writer for the ex-prime minister. He was sent to an isolated island in East side of America to finish the work.

I didn't fall asleep for the whole movie. Instead, I was intrigued by the investigative nature of the story. The audience are guided to explore the truth as the ghost does.

By the way, Ewan's character doesn't have a name! And then I realized that during the whole movie, he introduced himself as "the Ghost" only.

Compared with A Serious Man which I watched recently, the Ghost Writer is much more intriguing. It has a kind of Hitchcock mystery atmosphere.

I can only guess that the wife is a CIA agent at the end of the movie when the director use montage during Ewan discovering the meaning of "in the beginnings" and the toasting by the wife.

The movie has a good structure: beginning, development, climax, twist and conclusion.
The ending is a bit rush. I thought that the passing of paper slip from the back to the wife is a good idea. And then the Ghost died in a sudden car crash. Is it a conspiracy or just an accident? It left the audience in wonder when they leave the cinema. I wouldn't prefer the movie to end it that way. However, if the ending is that the Ghost exposing the truth to the press, it would be too long.

Overall, it is a very good movie.